Randy Jackson, a Grammy Award-winning producer, is a 20-year music industry veteran. He started out playing bass guitar at age 13, and got his big break when he joined the band Journey. He spent eight years as vice president of A&R at Columbia Records and four years as senior vice president of A&R at MCA Records.

SHAKEFIRE: Randy, after all these years of listening to these auditions the first few weeks, are you growing more inpatient with the contestants who obviously can’t sing but just want their 15 minutes?

RANDY JACKSON: You know, that’s one of the best questions I’ve had in quite some time.  And, yes, I am growing a little impatient with that because you know, look, you’ve watched the show.  You know what the show is.  You see every year somebody great wins the show, the top three or four or five or top ten people are all usually great singers and you just wonder what are they seeing that I’m not seeing?  It’s like we’re not on the same page here, so, yes, I am getting a little impatient with that. 

SF: So can you just tell us a little about working with Ellen and what that’s been like, maybe give us an anecdote about how her and Simon are getting along. 

RJ: Listen, next week, which is Hollywood Week, will be our first time really sitting down with her because she didn’t do the auditions on the road.  We had guest judges.  We had many great ones, including Mary J. Blige, Victoria Beckham, Joe Jonas and Katy Perry, and Shania Twain and so on and so on, but she’s great.  We’ve had a relationship for a long time.  I’ve known her for quite some time, so has Ryan Seacrest.  So we’re really good friends with her.  I think we’re going to have a very funny, interesting season ahead of us.  There will be a lot of laughs. 

SF: How was it working with Victoria Beckham?

RJ: It was cool.  I gave her the nickname Lady V, so hopefully she goes out into the world and uses that, but it was cool.  I think all the guest judges on the Idol auditions gave a different perspective because they’ve all been performers with different types of music and go on stage and record and everything.  So she was actually really cool. 

SF: With all the…guest judges you just referenced, obviously Paula is not going to be among them.  What do you miss most about working with her?

RJ: The Paula thing is really near and dear to my heart.  She’s one of my best friends.  I talked to her a couple of days ago.  We speak all the time.  The whole thing started with me, Ryan, Simon and her, so she’s one of our best friends and she still is.  I miss that.  We look down the table sometimes and go, wait a minute, where’s Paula?  I expect to hear something from my left ear and I go, wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like Paula.  So it’s going to take a little getting used to, but we’re really sad about that.  But welcoming Ellen to the fold is a good look.  She’s funny.  She’s charismatic.  She’s really cool.  She’s my home girl from Louisiana like me, which we love Louisiana, right?  So it’s going to be a very interesting, funny, different season Idol, season nine. 

SF: Right, and I know you were saying that you loved working with Paula.  There’s also talk that Paula might be up for a spot on the U.S. X Factor, one of Simon’s other shows.  Would you like to see her back in her judging seat for that?

RJ: Yes.  Look, she’s one of my dear friends, so I wish her the best in the world.  I know that she’s going to be back in something in a huge way because she’s mad talented.  The thing that I always say about this genre or about anything in the music entertainment side is expect the unexpected.  You never know.

SF: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the kind of contestants so far?  Have there been any trends, and what are you eyeing?  I know that you recently were quoted as saying you really hope a girl wins this year.  Are there a lot of promising women?

RJ: Yes, because the thing is the last couple of seasons boys have won.  So I said that at this last season, scratching my head going, dude, where are the girls?  Where have all the ladies gone, come on, what are we doing?  I think there’s some really talented girls that showed up this time.  I also think that what changes the show from year to year are the contestants that we get.  And it’s smart of you to really pinpoint that because this year, you would have thought there would have been a lot more theatrical, a lot more Adam Lambert or Kris Allen types that would have showed up for the auditions.   But that’s not what happened at all this time.  Usually whoever wins or comes in one and two, that next season of auditions you have a lot of those kinds of people.  It’s almost like there was a signal to everyone at home that was like them, now it’s time to try out for American Idol, but it didn’t happen like that this time.  So I think we have a very interesting, unique cast that’s really only unique to this season nine.  I think it’s going to be really, really exciting and very different. 

SF: So what kind of musical trend are you seeing?  Are there people who are really influenced by Lady Gaga or are they singer/songwriter types?

RJ: No, I think all the Lady Gaga and all those people, you need the stage and you need a whole performance and props and different outfits to do that.  I think what is really interesting to me is I think, this season we have some really good bona fide stand-in-your-shoes singers.  So without all the props or all the affectations or any of that stuff, so I think it’s very interesting.  It’s going to be different to see how it pans out and who stands the test of time because sometimes these contestants that you think are great, once they get actually on the show and the show is running and they’re on live TV, some of them crumble with their nerves and everything.  But we got some really bona fide singers this time, I think. 

SF     Talk to us about some of the guest judges that will be on the show this year, specifically Shania, Neil Patrick, Katy, Joe Jonas, what were their strengths as judges?

RJ: Listen, they all brought something different to the table.  The first few you’re going to see on Tuesday starts in Boston with Victoria Beckham.  People know her fame from the Spice Girls.  They probably know more of it as being Mrs. David Beckham.  These are all performers in their own right that have achieved high acclaim and massive success in the entertainment field.  I think they all brought something different.  I think you’ll see even their judging styles are a little different.  I think Simon has said he thought that people were a little bit more in the Fear Factor zone of Mary J. Blige just because of her presence.  She’s like that kind of demanding artist.  I think all of them, I think Shania brought something different, I think Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne brought something really different and unique.  I think surprisingly for some people, they probably would be surprised at what Joe Jonas’ input was and also Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Chenoweth.  So they all gave a different perspective. 

What I like about the guest judges is that they all come from some singing, live performance background, so they know what it’s like.  So it was a really good audition season, I have to tell you.  

SF: Can you just talk a little, was there a particular city that stuck out for you as being just a real hot bed, gave out a lot of golden tickets or conversely one that was maybe was a little thin on the ….?

RJ: I have to tell you for me I thought Orlando was really strange, just in terms of the talent and who came out and what was going on there.  I thought it was a little strange of a place, but I think Dallas was good.  I think surprisingly Atlanta was actually really good.  I’m just saying surprisingly because I know it’s the hometown of Ryan Seacrest, little dig, all fun and games.  But I actually think probably Atlanta was one of the standouts for me, actually.  Dallas was really strong as well, I felt.

SF: I wanted to follow up a little bit on the fact that you said Dallas was one of the standout cities.  Can you describe some of the people that you saw or why it stands out in your mind?

RJ: I think the funny thing is that we never know which cities are going to turn out to be where there’s going to be more of a broader range of talent.  I think Dallas definitely showed and proved for me this time, you may talk to some of the other judges and they may differ, but I think Dallas and Atlanta were two standouts for me because you never really know what to expect because I can remember times that we were in Texas that it wasn’t good.   I can remember times like the first season and it was amazing because we found the lovely, majorly talented Kelly Clarkson.  It goes in and out.  I can remember a time in Houston when we thought, what are we doing here, man?     

SF: So when you look back on all your seasons on the show when it rolls around again to start the audition process, do you have to psych yourself up, like here we go again?  Or is it always new enough that it’s exciting again? 

RJ: I think it’s always new enough for me that it’s definitely exciting again.  As I say, not knowing what to expect, you go into these cities.  I think the first city you’ll see on Tuesday is Boston.  When we were there, we fell into our groove.  It takes us a while because we’re not together all the time, even though Simon, Ryan and I are the best of friends and we see each other off season a lot and we hang out a lot.  But it’s like riding a bike.  You just jump back on, you’re like, dude, this is it.  Yes, what? 

SF: You were just talking about Boston.  I wanted to press you on that if I can get a sense of what we’re going to see in that premiere in Boston here. 

RJ: Well, let me just tell you something, absolutely breathtaking, beautiful scenery you’re going to see because it’s a very beautiful city and the place that we shot, it was just breathtaking views.  But Victoria Beckham was with us there and it was surprisingly a good town for us.  We figure out the east coast, sometimes we do New York.  We’ve done Philly, DC, and this time Boston.  But it was actually surprisingly good.  We didn’t know really what to expect.  Boston being for me because I’m a musician as well as a producer and songwriter, but having Berkeley School of Music and that kind of heritage and the Eastman’s and all that kind of stuff going on there, you just expect this virtuoso talent.  I thought Boston was really, really, really good. 

SF: So speaking of contestants, how about Adam Lambert and what he has gone on to do, what did you think of his AMA performance and how he’s eclipsed your winner, Kris Allen, there? 

RJ: Adam is a giant personality.  He’s unbelievably talented.  The AMA thing, I guess, was something that he wanted to do and try.  An artist is really left up to their own ideas of how they want to do things and whatever.  I think he’s a big personality.  He’s a far bigger, probably, personality than Kris, but I think they’re both equally talented.  Kris obviously won for a reason.  You’ve got Allison, she has her record out, too.  I wish them all well and the best.  They’re all immensely talented, Danny Gokey, we had a lot of talented kids this season. 

SF: Are there any specific themes you’re looking forward to with the new season, any crossover with the kids from Glee or anything crazy like that? 

RJ: I often look more forward every season now, probably from the fifth season on, I’m really interested to see the kids sing current music.  Because winning this show or coming in wherever you come in in the rank of the top ten or whatever, the only thing that you know for sure is you’re going to get a shot to go up against your contemporaries.  So I’m loving hearing them sing their contemporary songs trying to do it better than them and have put a new twist, a new spin on it or whatever to see how they stack up in the real world today.  So I’m always looking forward to that every season now from season five on. 

SF: Let me ask you a question about someone like a Chris Daughtry, an Adam Lambert and a Carrie Underwood that really becomes a big household name.  How early in the competition do you feel like you see them as being standout performers? 

RJ: I’d like to say honestly for me, I saw Adam day one the day he auditioned.  I saw Kelly Clarkston day one the day she auditioned; Carrie Underwood, day one, the day she auditioned; Chris Daughtry day—I think these people, I truly believe that stars are really born.  I think they’re definitely cultivated and you can help them manifest into bigger and brighter stars, but I think those things are born.  I think you know when you hear them that they have something special and some kind of unique persona. 

SF: I have a question.  This is American Idol’s ninth season now.  Its popularity has just been unwavering year after year.  But do you think it’s something that can fade or do you see an end to it at least for you at some point? 

RJ: Wow, that’s a big, loaded question.  I think Idol is the best show of its kind ever.  I think it can go on for quite a long time.  I don’t know when the end for that is.  I haven’t really thought about my end for it.  I’m contracted for quite a, a couple more seasons.  So it’s really hard to predict, but I think the show can really go on for a long time.  I think it’s the best certainly music reality show that’s ever been a music TV show.